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11 Aug 2012

Assistance for Deserted NRI Indian Women

The Legal and financial assistance is already being provided to Indian women who have been deserted by their NRI husbands by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, National Commission for Women and Non-Governmental Organizations empanelled with the Indian Missions/Posts abroad.

The Supreme Court in its judgement dated 14thFebruary, 2006 in the case ofSeemaVs.AshwaniKumar has directed thatmarriages of all persons who are citizens ofIndiabelonging to various religions should be made compulsorily registrationin their respective States. State Governments have taken steps for compulsory registration of marriages in their respectiveStates.

TheMinistry does not maintain exclusive data in respect of NRI wives who have been deserted by their husbands abroad. However, complaints received in the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) pertaining to desertion/ harassment/deception/cheating by their overseas spouses State-wise are as below:

State wise complaints received in the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs from Indian women against harassment/desertion by their overseas spouses from 2005 to 2012 (till 30/6/2012).

Sr.No.

Name of the State/Union Territory

Total

1

Andhra Pradesh

42

2

Assam

5

3

Bihar

4

4

Chhattisgarh

2

5

Delhi

74

6

Gujarat

21

7

Haryana

25

8

Himachal Pradesh

1

9

Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)

8

10

Karnataka

7

11

Kerala

19

12

Maharastra

21

13

Madhya Pradesh

6

14

Orissa

2

15

Punjab

101

16

Puducherry (U.T)

1

17

Rajasthan

6

18

Tamil Nadu

31

19

Uttar Pradesh

22

20

Uttaranchal

02

21

West Bengal

18

Total

418

The complaints received by the National Commission for Women, the coordinating agency at the national level to receive and process such complaints relating to Indian women deserted by their overseas husbands, are as below:

State-wise complaints received in the National Commission for Women from September, 2009 till March 2012.

Sl.No.

State

Total number of complaints

1

Delhi

135

2

Uttar Pradesh

68

3

Haryana

56

4

Punjab

53

5

Maharashtra

46

6

Gujarat

39

7

Andhra Pradesh

51

8

Karnataka

23

9

West Bengal

30

10

Tamil Nadu

30

11

Rajasthan

25

12

Madhya Pradesh

18

13

Uttrakhand

11

14

Bihar

10

15

Himachal Pradesh

04

16

Assam

03

17

Jharkhand

04

18

Chhattisgarh

02

19

Orissa

09

20

Kerala

07

21

Goa

02

22

Tripura

02

23

Jammu and Kashmir

04

Others*

126

Total

758

*Complete address not available and details sought.

This information was given by the Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Shri Vayalar Ravi in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.